Roxas and Lea were finished with their training and plan to go to their usual spot for an ice cream until the others would come back.

Just as they left the tower Mickey came to them and wondered, "Where are you two doing?"

Roxas turned and told, "Going to Twilight Town for something."

"I guess this is a thing between you two, so I shouldn't disturb you," told Mickey and Lea smirks. "Got that damn right, mouse! It's a tradition between friends and sorry… I don't see you as a friend here. At least not a close enough friend for this."

"We considered letting Kuran join in, but since he isn't here we cannot ask him," told Lea. "However, once we all are free, we will definitely do that together."

"Alright! I wish you fun guys! Just in case an emergency shows up, where can I find you?" asks Mickey.

"If this emergency isn't happening in Twilight Town, Clock Tower or a shop. Probably the first since we only need one thing from the shop."

Mickey nods and went back into the tower. Lea and Roxas on the other hand went to Twilight Town, going to the shop where they usually buy their Sea-Salt Ice Cream. Once they had the ice cream they went to go to the Clock Tower, but just as they wanted to enter the station, they heard somebody calling, "Hey you! What do you think you are doing?"

The two turned and spot somebody Roxas recognizes instantly. "Seifer…"

"You know him?" asks Lea and Roxas answered, "In a way… was part of the simulated Twilight Town and a bane of existence."

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" protests Seifer and the boy on his side, Rai, adds, "Don't ignore Seifer, ya know! He is the leader of the Disciplinary Committee, ya know. "

The girl on the other side remained silent. The name of her is Fuu and belongs to Seifer's trio. Lea just shrugs. "And? I don't think you have to stick your nose to our business. Just doing what we do a lot when we are here in town."

"I never saw you two before! So don't tell me you come here frequently," told Seifer and took a struggle club out, pointing at the two Keybearers.

Lea chuckles. "Ya know! We did for the minority of a year. We just didn't come here in the last time since we had been busy."

"Let's go Lea. We cannot reason with him properly and the ice is melting," told Roxas and Lea nods. "Got a point there, Roxas."

The two turned to go on their way, but Seifer told them to stop. Then Fuu simply said, "Capture."

"Great idea, ya know!" told Rai and took out his own struggle bat and charges at the two. As he got closer, he jumped and aims to hit Lea's head. But what he hit instead shocked him. Lea had noticed the attack and summoned one of his Chakras to block the hit and push his attacker back.

"Don't start a fight with us and we won't mop the street with you," told Lea and points to his head while having his Sea Salt Ice Cream in hand. "Got it memorized?"

"Fine!" told Seifer. "For now you win, but if you cause trouble here, I will discipline you!"

"Don't worry on that. If you find us within trouble, it is more like it found u,s" told Lea and Seifer made a sign that indicates he will have an eye on them before leaving. Roxas watches them and wondered, "Does he bully the others here like in the simulation?"

"What do you mean?" asks Lea and then he got it. "You mean the simulated friends you had in this copy version of the town?"

Roxas nods and Lea shrugs. "Since I can agree with you on the bane part, I guess he does."

"After the ice cream I would like to see them. I know they probably don't know me, but I just want to meet my friends again," explains Roxas and Lea laughs, "I bet you become their friend for real and not only a simulation."

Then they went on their usual place on the clock tower where they looked at the sun which was on its usual position in the sky while eating their ice cream. No words were spoken since they just wanted to enjoy being together again. However, both felt something was still missing… as if there should be one more person besides them to make it truly like back into the days of the Organization. At least the enjoyable parts of their life within Organization XIII. Once they finished their ice cream they wanted to move, but… they changed their minds as something passed the clock tower. And this something was more specifically Duskflier, one of the most dangerous Heartless around. The two friends looked at each other and rushes to the spot where the Heartless seems to head.

On their way they also faced Heartless, but were disposed quickly until they reached the Tram Common. What they saw made their drop their jaws in disbelieve. The place where rampaged by Armor Heartless, the Duskflier, Destroyers with Guardians and Watchers as helpers and also the bladed Heartless Zip Slasher, Heat Saber and Stalward Blade.

The two friends looked at each other and Roxas told, "I don't know who is behind this, but this is an overkill."

"Well… looks like we are stuck to the icky job here," told Lea, but then a voice came, "But you are not alone!"

They turned and spot Sora along with Donald and Goofy. Roxas told while holding both Keyblades, "Good to see you Sora!"

"We wanted to go directly to Master Yen Sid, but due to a feeling we went here instead," told Sora. "And I can see I was right."

"I think we have to agree her Sora!" told another voice and Riku came along with Kairi, Aqua, and Terra… but Kuran was missing.

"Where is Kuran?" wondered Sora and Aqua told, "Honestly we don't know… he disappeared during a training match and didn't came back. We looked for him, but didn't find anything and on the way to Yen Sid we noticed a stronger sense of darkness here."

"Whoever called all these Heartless wanted our attention," told Riku. "So I think this is a trap for us."

"The only question remains who would like to trap us?" shrugs Lea but adds, "Who is your new friend though?"

"I am Terra," told the brown haired Keybearer. "And we don't have time for explanations with these Heartless around."

They agreed and got their Keyblades and rushed to fight. Kairi went to the Destroyer and summons Shiva which froze the Heartless. The minions of the Destroyer shattered by impact, leaving them defeated and Kairi went to attack with her summon the frozen darkness creature.

Aqua and Terra stood side on side to each other before the brown haired man rushes to block the attack of an incoming Heat Saber. The other two bladed Heartless came, but were countered by Donald and Goofy while Aqua used her variety of spells to attack the Heartless and went in to help Donald in close combat.

Riku was against the armor Heartless and was blocking the blows of the claws before countering with a quick attack

Sora was going for the Duskfleir and the beast was shooting its fireballs at Sora, however the projectiles missed him. Using the wall to rush up he jumps at the beast and smashes his Keyblade at its head. It cried in pain and flips to send Sora away. To his luck he lands on the roof of a house where he got up to his feet and quickly casts some of his long raged spells. Few missed, but the rest impacted. The Heartless rushes and prepares to stomp on Sora, but the brown haired Keybearer jumps down and the impacts of the Heartless and its following shock wave didn't hit anything. Aiming his Keyblade again, Sora shot more projectile spells, all impacting with the Heartless. It cried again and took off, flying at the clock tower.

Not wanting to let it escape Sora rushes after it, leaving unnoticed by the other Keybearers, but two other sets of eyes notices his movement and follows him. Each of them having different intentions.

As Sora reaches the place in front of the Tower and glares at the Heartless which just stood there and cries at the Keybearer.

Starting to rush, Sora aims to hit it hard with the Keyblade, but fell over and cried in pain as a fire ball impacted with his back.

Groaning in pain he tries to stand up, but was kicked back on the ground and said foot stood on him. Sora grits his teeth since the burn on his back also pains and tries to move the feet on his chest. Looking up, hegasped since he looked straight into the evil grinning face of Aros. "Hello Loser!"

"Aros!" exclaims Sora. "Let me go!"

"What? And let you fight alongside your friends?" asks Aros while summoning his Keyblade and rested it on his shoulder. "I don't think so… you see… Maleficent don't like to see you and your friends running around with these pretty keys. Agreeing with her on this point, we were on the term that we lure you here and separate each of you."

Sora glares at his counterpart and Aros laughs. "This expression of yours is just lovable! Too bad I won't be able to see it ever again once I am done here! First I kill you, and then your friends follow your fate! Bet Hades will thank me for delivering a set of Keybearers to his front door… as permanent guests!"

"Did you plan to kill him without any audience?" asks the Phantom Blob as he came to the place.

Aros looked at the cloaked man and wondered, "Why are you here? Can't you see that I am busy?"

"Maleficent wants that I record how you finish your work to… see what she can expect from you," told the blob and Aros huffs. "This so called fairy isn't trusting anybody! Wouldn't surprise me if we try to back stab each other!"

Turning back to Sora he wondered, "Where did we leave off… Oh, right! Your last living moment!"

Sora glares at Aros and got his Keyblade, but Aros was faster and hit Sora's weapon hard enough to make it fly away. Then two soldiers appeared and held Sora's arms. Raising Kings Tyrant up, he mused, "Perhaps I should… give you something else first!"

Turning to the Duskflier he ordered, "Fly back and destroy the other Keybearers!"

The Heartless roared and took off, flying to the direction of the other Keybearers. Sora looked at the flying darkness creature but told, "My friends will beat you and these Heartless!"

"Tough words for you! For your information… this thing can take a lot of abuse before giving in. And while taking it, he delivers a lot to level this place within hours," told Aros and began to laugh, but stopped as he heard a roar. Turning to the source he saw a red beam shooting at the Heartless, taking it out with one shot. Then a red dragon rises into the sky.

Realizing the trouble, Aros turns around to at least kill his counterpart. Just as his Keyblade was ready to strike down, a light was seen for a second on his forehead and his expression became a shocked one.

The Keyblade on his hand falls down and disappears while the body just falls on the ground, lifeless. Sora stares at the body and felt that he saw that before… he just couldn't tell where and when. The Heartless he controlled let go of Sora to attack him, but the experienced Keybearer called his weapon and took care of them in seconds.

"Sora!"

Sora turns and saw a girl running towards him. She had blue eyes, blond hair and wears a simple white dress. It took him a few seconds before realizing who it was. "Namine?" he asks and moves to her.

"Glad I came in time," told Namine. "But… I didn't realize I could… do that to him."

"Guess being my doppelganger seems to make him vulnerable towards your powers" told Sora and Namine nods.

"Seems instead of getting rid of at least one of you, we lost our Keybearer," told Phantom Blob while moving to the body of Aros. "While the body isn't dead, his mind is wiped thanks to you."

"How do you know about what happened to him?" asks Namine and the Phantom Blob answered, "The dairies. Only incomplete copies, but still enough to know about you Namine, Nobody of Kairi, the Princess of Heart."

The Phantom Blob snapped his fingers and the Beagle Boys rushed out of the station and picked the body up. Sora wanted to interfere, but suddenly a Heartless lands in front of them.

It is a vaguely humanoid Heartless with an emaciated, legless, dark pink-skinned appearance. Its eyes are yellow and glowing and are surrounded by black rings. Its head somewhat resembles a human skull and sports a wide crest on its head that resembles a headdress. Two black, angular, curled horns are present on either side of its head. It appears to have a very long neck and it wears a black and steel blue garment that covers its neck and shoulders. The Heartless emblem is on the front of this garment. Its lower body is covered by a short, black and steel blue skirt with white bandages wrapped around it.

It also wears black gauntlets decorated by jagged yellow and grey lines. It carries a large, black staff with a wide, steel blue, anchor-like blade on one end and a small, angular, heart-shaped one on the other end.

"But… I thought I defeated it back in..." began Sora, but the Blob explains while leaving with the Beagle Boys and Aros body, "While some Heartless seem to exist only once, many hearts have been released in The World That Never Was. Many of the captured hearts became Heartless once again, this one being one of the reborn Heartless."

Then they were gone and Sora prepares to attack the Heartless. The grim reaper was ready to attack as it cried after a large blade penetrates it in a diagonal angle from above and three more came.

The Heartless struggles and tries to get rid of the weapons stuck into it, but a colossal blade crashes into it, cutting the Heartless's body clean into half.

Namine and Sora stared as the Heartless slowly disappeared and somebody called, "Sora!"

Sora turned around and called, "Kuran! Where have you been?"

"Long story!" told Kuran. "Just glad that I got it right."

"Got it right?" asks Namine and Kuran told, "Part of the long story… and I prefer to tell the very easy short version with the others around… the long and complicated version of it, sometimes there was no universe on the stake."

"Is it… that complicated," asks Sora and Kuran shook his head. "Only if I include all details."

"Then the easy and short with the others," told Sora. Nodding, Kuran asks, "Say… who is your friend here?"

"I am Namine," smiles the Nobody. "Kairi's Nobody."

"Well… Lea and Roxas had already guessed you are around, Namine," replied Kuran. "Nice to meet you!"

"Same here," told Namine. "But we should move to the others… they might still need our help."

Kuran nods and snaps his fingers and the large blades disappears. Sora asks, "Where did you learn that?"

"Part of the complicated version," told Kuran and they move to help the others. As they reached there, however, they just saw how Fugeo was sent back to his world. No Heartless were left, but… the damage was still done.

"Looks like it will take time until this place is fixed," sighs Namine.

"Namine?" asks Kairi as she spots her Nobody. "You're here?"

She nods. "Yeah… woke up some time ago in front of the mansion. After that, I met some people and we became friends. However… I got separated from him as the Heartless attacked."

"NAMINE!" called somebody and they turned to spot Hayner, Pence, and Olette coming towards them.

Namine smiles. "I am glad you three are alright!"

"We're glad you are fine," told Olette and smiles. "Sora! Donald, Goofy! Nice to see you again."

"Same here!" told Sora and Hayner told, "Welcome back, Kairi."

However… as they spot Lea…

"YOU!" the three shouted and point at the red haired Keybearer. Lea raises his hands in the air. "Whoa! Calm down! I am with the good guys now!"

"That's right!" told Sora. "He helped out a lot."

"In this case," told Hayner, "You're fine then."

"Thanks! I am Lea! Got that memorized," told the pyromancer and then wondered, "Where have you been Kuran? Missed ya in the fun we just had."

"Mix of time spell, warp spell, and dark corridor," told Kuran. "Got tossed around in different universes. By the way: I am supposed to say 'Hi' from Will."

"Different universes?" asks Sora and Kuran told, "Alternate realities, different timelines… pick one of these terms."

"From what I hear it sounds you have been around a lot… but your absence from us was fairly short," told Terra and Kuran shrugs. "Don't ask me… for my taste I was pretty long gone. You just don't see it on me since I got hit by something that slowed my aging down… need to find a way to fix it."

"Uhm… why?" asks Hayner. "I mean if you age slower, wouldn't you live longer in return?"

"Don't want to outlive my friends that much," told Kuran.

"Anyway… we have to head back and decide what to do next," told Aqua. "This attack here was likely an attempt to force us to move."

"Sorry… but it was Aros's move to kill us," corrects Sora. They looked at him and Kuran guessed, "Better we fill our rows up and finish with one of the troublemakers we have to deal with."

"I agree with Kuran," told Riku. "We have Xehanort and his organization still out there and Maleficent with her allies."

"Whoever we take down first, the other must be dealt in the sequel," shrugs Lea. "Also back to the old mage."

Kuran crosses his arms. "You won't change, right?"

"Why should I?" grins Lea.

Kuran rolls his eyes.

Back in the Mysterious Tower Kuran told what happened with him and the different universes he went through.

The wise Yen Side stroked his beard for a while before speaking. "You encountered many adventures in the time of your absence… and learned a lot from them. But this move of Sora's other self is disturbing… we cannot risk to lose any more time. It is time to retrieve Ventus from the sleep he put into all these years."

"Great! Where does we have to go for his body?" asks Lea and Yen Sid explains, "It was once known as the Land of Departure, like Aqua and Terra will remember. However! Due to the sealing of Master Aqua, it is now a different place which listens to the name Castle Oblivion."

Namine gasps. "There… was somebody else in the castle? But… why…"

"Why did nobody find him?" asks Lea. "I remember that I was sent there to search for something and found nothing."

"Because only I know where we have to search to find the room where Ventus is resting," told Aqua. "The castle is made to lead anybody being there into oblivion if they don't know what they seek."

"I was looking for an exit and later dealing with what have remained from Ansem," told Riku. "Sora… was lured into a trap."

"Can't remember that I ever was in such a place," told Sora and Namine told, "I am to blame for that… after you recovered Ventus, I will fill you in."

"So because I didn't know what I was looking for, I never found anything? But why did I still get out?"

"Probably due to your former status as a Nobody. You already didn't exist so you couldn't fall into oblivion even more, at least from the… view of the castle's magic," explains Aqua.

"So… how do we get there? Gummi Ships?" asks Kuran.

"Not wanting to waste more time I see… but you have to wait a little more. Mickey is back on his world to gather a Gummi Ship that contains enough space for all of you."

"So that's why he didn't show up as the tumult in Twilight Town happened," mused Lea. "Figures."

"Tell him that," told Roxas, "Because I see a big Gummi Ship coming towards us."